Eyes on the Street: New Florence Avenue Bus Lanes

Part of South Los Angeles’ Florence Avenue now has bright red bus lane markings, designed to improve bus speed and reliability.

In mid-2022, Metro and the L.A. City Transportation Department (LADOT) announced plans for add new peak-hour bus lanes on Florence Avenue. The five-mile project was planned to extend from the Metro K Line Fairview Heights Station to the Metro A Line Florence Avenue Station.

Most of the project (from West Boulevard to Central Avenue) is located in L.A. City, but the east end of the project includes about three quarters of a mile in the unincorporated L.A. County community of Florence-Firestone.

The Florence bus priority lanes lane will be in effect only at peak traffic hours: weekdays 7-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m.

In December, 2024, Metro announced that Florence bus lane construction was expected to get underway “as early as February 2025.” That construction notice anticipated about three months’ work, concluding by this month.

Construction does not appear to be underway on the main L.A. City part of the project.

As of last weekend, the short L.A. County portion appears nearly complete. New lane striping, including bright red pavement, appears recently done. SBLA didn’t spot any new signage there yet, so there is still additional work underway.

The County portion was planned to extend from Central Avenue to the A Line – about 4,000 feet. The current bus lane markings extend about 3,000 feet (the westbound bus lane ends at Makee Avenue, the eastbound lane ends at Compton Avenue). Either the County has not finished striping the full length, or their portion has been shortened (like other Southern California bus lane projects).

Below are more photos of the county’s new Florence bus lanes.

Speaking of bright red bus lane pavement, below is a photo of a different project 4-5 miles north and west of Florence-Firestone.

About a year ago, LADOT completed its 54th Street Safety Improvements project. The project largely focused on walk and bike safety upgrades in the Chesterfield Square neighborhood (including extending existing 54th Street bike lanes and adding green pavement markings). At 54th Street and 2nd Avenue, the project included a short stretch of bright red pavement denoting a bus stop.